Good for you?

Store shelves are awash in waters, teas and juices with added vitamins, herbs, whatever, that are supposed to be good for you. A word of caution from the American Institute for Cancer Research's Nutrition Notes: Added vitamins or minerals may be helpful in some instances, but for those who meet recommended amounts through diet or supplements, significant additions to drinks may be useless or even harmful. Also, the effectiveness of some herbs is either questionable or still under study.

- Newsday

Preparing lettuce

To keep washed lettuce in your refrigerator for up to one week: After washing, spin or thoroughly pat dry the greens. Line a plastic bag with paper towels and fill loosely with the greens. Leave the bag open in the crisper drawer of the refrigerator to allow unseen water to evaporate.

- Marge Perry, Newsday

Fight infection

Researchers in Canada are developing an antibody cocktail that could prevent most common food-borne germs, including E. coli and salmonella, from infecting the body. The substance is derived from freeze-dried egg yolk and could be sprinkled or sprayed onto meats, fruit and vegetables. It does not affect taste, the researchers said. The research was described a recent national meeting of the American Chemical Society.